Never the Same
by laneydaze96
Summary: Post-revelations. What happened afterwards? Family fic, kind of angsty. Obviously reid-centric. One-shot, unless people want more. Please don't flame! I don't own Criminal Minds or its characters  -*/


Post Revelations. This has been done before, but I like to write too. What happened after Reid took the drugs from Tobias? And I don't know medical stuff, so no flames please!

"Can, can I have a second alone?" asked a shaky, injured Reid. Gideon looked at him with sadness, knowing he couldn't hope to understand what Reid was going through. The aged profiler gave a silent nod, and walked away, giving Reid the privacy he had asked for.

Reid watched Gideon walk away as he knelt by his savior, his murderer, and his torturer. He knew he would regret his decision, but he dug his hands into Tobias's lifeless body's pocket, and grabbed the phials. He looked at them for a moment, not realizing the gravity of how much those seemingly harmless little bottles could ruin someone's life.

He put them in his pocket, and stood up, greatly favoring his injured foot. He hugged his torso tightly, noting the pain in his stomach. 'Withdrawl,' he thought. 'I can't hide that from the team.'

He staggered a few steps, until Morgan came back into view. "Reid, you ok?" he asked, noticing Reid's limp. Reid shook his head, his face scrunched in pain.

"No, I think my foot is broken. He, uh, smashed it with something. I think it was a piece of wood. I don't know. I can't walk very well," he said, looking down.

Morgan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. They didn't know what Reid had gone through in the days he was gone. All they had were a couple of videos, that were only a few minutes long.

"Hold on, I gotcha." Morgan said as he pulled his little brother's arm up and around his shoulder.

They walked in silence to where the team was waiting. An ambulance and several police cars were there, and the team stood near the ambulance. JJ had red eyes, like she had been crying. This was unsurprising, given the circumstances she was in. The guy she had been like a big sister to, the guy she was supposed to protect, was hurt. And in her eyes, it was her fault. She was the senior agent, she knew they weren't supposed to split up. And she didn't stop it. The rest of the team didn't see it like this. Only she blamed herself.

Hotch and Gideon walked over, and observed Reid. "Reid, the ambulance is going to take you to the hospital, ok? We'll meet you there, alright?" said Hotch.

Reid simply nodded, and watched as the paramedics bustled over. "This way, sir. Is anyone riding with him?" asked the young woman working as a paramedic. Instantly, eyes went to Gideon.

"I'll ride with him," said Gideon, looking at his protégé again. As the paramedics assisted Reid into the ambulance, Morgan, JJ, Prentiss, and Hotch silently walked over to the SUV that was lent to them for the case.

"Man, he didn't look good. Henkel is lucky that he's dead so that I wouldn't get a hold of him," Morgan said in a low voice.

"I think we're more lucky we have Reid. We have him back, and he's ok!" said JJ, in a self reassuring voice.

As Hotch began to speed onto the highway, he glanced over at Prentiss, who was sitting in the passenger seat. "We don't know if he's ok yet. Wait till we get to the hospital to jump to that conclusion," said Hotch. He didn't mean for it to come off as harsh, but he was worried inside. He knew from personal experience that looks could be deceiving about a person's well being.

This made the ride more silent.

Even with Prentiss's compartmentalizing skills, she couldn't hide the look of concern on her face as they sped towards the hospital.

In the ambulance

Reid laid back on the gurney as they did a quick examination, checking initial injuries. His arms were still gripping his torso as they asked him questions. "Does this hurt? How do you feel? Could you follow the light please?" and many more. One not-so-gentle hand poked and prodded his injured foot, causing Reid to cry out.

Gideon looked a little angry. "Could you be a bit more careful? He just went through two days of torture, he doesn't need more!" Gideon exclaimed.

The paramedic looked sheepish, and mumbled an apology. He prodded more softly. "It's broken, and it feels like the tendon may have some damage," he said.

After a while they just waited to get to the hospital, after injecting him with morphine.

As the ambulance pulled up to the ER entrance, Gideon stood, and crawled out, waiting for them to pull Reid out.

They wheeled him into the hospital, and Gideon anxiously followed. They began to wheel him down a hallway that said 'Hospital Personnel Only' and when Gideon tried to follow, a nurse held him back. "Sir, they are going to help him, you have to wait here," she said gently but firmly.

Gideon stared down the hall, and back at the elder nurse. "Please, I need to be with him. He needs someone, you don't understand-"

"Sir, we need to do our job. Now, there are chairs over there, just sit and wait until we give you an update, alright?"

Gideon looked dejected, but nodded. He went and sat in a chair, with his head in his hands.

Hotch, Morgan, JJ, and Prentiss then hurried into the ER, looking around for Gideon. When they saw him, they hurried over. "Well, what do we know?" said Hotch.

Gideon looked up, and shook his head. "All I know is that he has lots of bruises on his face, an open would, he had a concussion so a possible head trauma, a broken foot, and something wrong with the Achilles' tendon."

They all had different looks of grief on their faces. Morgan slammed his fist into a wall, earning alarmed looks from his team and nurses yelling at him. Sighing, he sat down. "He doesn't deserve this. No one does," Morgan said.

"It's all my fault," JJ said, tearing up again.

"Jen, it is not your fault! We know that, and Reid knows that. You're the only one who thinks that!" exclaimed Prentiss, putting a reassuring hand on JJ's shoulder.

"If it's anyone's fault it's mine," said Hotch. "I shouldn't have sent you two in without an experienced field agent."

"Hotch, we all just thought he was a witness. At the wrong place, wrong time. C'mon, man. This isn't helping," said Morgan, shaking his head.

Gideon, who had been silent, finally spoke up. "He's right. Blaming ourselves isn't helpful."

The team finally sat down, waiting in silence. JJ rested her head on Emily's shoulder, while Morgan was on the phone with a frantic Garcia. When Morgan hung up, Garcia argued with the cops at the Henkel house until she threatened them with weird tech languge, and got a fearful deputy to drive her on duty to the hospital.

Garcia arrived at the emergency room, looking around. When she spotted her team, she hurried over. "So? How's my sweet baby?"

"We don't know yet, babygirl." Said Morgan reluctantly, already gauging Garcia's reaction.

"Oh. Well, I brought goodies for him! See?" she held up several grocery bags from a nearby gas station that the deputy had to stop at. It was full of cheap gas station knick knacks and every kind of candy bar known to man.

This drew small smiles from the team, and Morgan gave a small chuckle and hugged her. They too sat down and waited.

Finally, after another couple hours of waiting, a doctor walked to the waiting room. "Spencer Reid?" he called out. The team hurried over to him, looking expectant. "Um, may I speak to family?"

"His mother is unavailable and he hasn't spoken to his father in twenty years. We're all he's got," Hotch said in an authoritarian voice.

The doctor swallowed, and got a sympathetic expression. "Well, we had a scare. What we hadn't realized was that there was drugs in his system. When we got the tox-screen back, it came back as dilaudid," he paused. He noticed recognition on the people's faces. "Anyway, this had a reaction with the drugs we had given him." Alarm crossed the team's faces, and he continued, not wanting to worry them. "But we got a handle on it. We'll need to keep him for a detox, and I can guarantee you he will go through withdrawl. And, you should be aware that dilaudid is a very addictive drug, you need to be prepared. I heard about his situation, so I know it was not his free will to take these drugs. Just help him through this, ok?" Several emotions ran through their faces. Shock, disbelief, worry, sadness, and grief. The doctor continued. "Anyway, as for the physical injuries. His left foot was fractured, and the tendon along the bottom of his foot was injured. This will make walking painful and difficult for a while, but there isn't much we can do about that. He had a concussion, but nothing serious. As for the seizure he suffered during his overdose, it seems no long term damage was done. He has bruising on his wrists, and on his face. He is malnourished, having gone over 60 hours without food. But it's not serious. But I do believe he will make a full recovery, other than the possible addiction he will have to face. I want to keep him here for a week, or at least have him transported to his local hospital. But you can see him now, if you want."

The team was silent during this incredibly long speech, and they jumped at the chance of being able to see him. "Yes, of course we want to see him! Where is he?" asked JJ, holding her hands in front of her face.

"Right this way," said the doctor, leading the group to his room. "And to let you know, he was on drugs, he may still be a bit delirious."

They nodded, and stopped outside his room. "Go ahead. Since we can't give him drugs, this could distract him from the pain."

The team filed in, and were shocked at what they saw. Reid looked even younger and tinier on the hospital bed, his shockingly pale face was white, even next to the white sheets.

"Reid?" asked Garcia, instantly by his side.

He moved his head, and opened his eyes. He saw someone standing over him. Who was that? Instantly, his mind went to Tobias.

Gideon watched with sadness as Reid's face first showed confusion, then alarm, then complete panic.

Reid's eyes darted around, and he tried scooting away, but only to realize that caused pain in his foot.

Garcia let a few tears slide out as she watched this, and tried to soothe him. "Reid, sweety, it's me! Don't hurt yourself, it's me, Penelope!" she said.

Reid blinked and looked at her again. "Garcia, hi," he said. As the team members crowded around him, welcomed him back, gave him teary hugs, one thought went through all their minds.

Would he ever be the same?


End file.
